I ask why?

[Rhino]

I'm sorry, it has come to my attention that some people feel that there needs to be an expert in the law within all states that allow open carry. I'm sorry, there isn't a lawyer out there that would admit they are that. What I do have is an article that backs up my point in this post:



Here is the article you may want to read: Link Removed

Good find. If you'd like to read the actual court decision without the ads and other web page distractions at that link, you can go here:
http://www.impsec.org/~jhardin/gunstuff/legal/St.John v Alamogordo Police Order.pdf

 

[NavyLCDR]

but as he also notes, people often don't open carry to deter crime. In my experience, they almost never do. I've yet to meet anyone who open carries for that purpose. Every open carrier I've met has done so for the reasons I expressed earlier, for self defense and to support 2nd amendment rights.

Your statements contradict each other. You say people don't open carry to deter crime, but they do open carry for self defense. The best form of self defense is to deter the criminal from ever attacking you. 90% of the open carry associates that I have carry with the hope that the criminal will see our gun first, and just move on. That does deter the crime from being committed against us, which is the most effective form of SELF defense. Call me selfish - I carry the gun to protect myself and my family first, foremost, and almost exclusively. I won't feel guilty if I am passed up by the criminal because they saw my gun - regardless of who their next victim is.

 

[telpinaro]

...
I won't feel guilty if I am passed up by the criminal because they saw my gun - regardless of who their next victim is.

Heck, maybe the criminal will wind up picking a target who happens to be CC-ing. Two guns threatening him in one day (though one never had to be pointed at him), who'd 'a thunk it?

Everyone's safety is their own responsibility. From the unarmed guy next to me to the criminal who chooses to attack me. So no guilt here, either.

 

[Rhino]

Your statements contradict each other. You say people don't open carry to deter crime, but they do open carry for self defense. The best form of self defense is to deter the criminal from ever attacking you.....

I certainly wouldn't argue that point. But when I say that every open carrier I've met has done so for self defense, it wasn't in the hopes of scaring criminals away. It was for the use of a firearm in case of attack. That was their reason for carrying either openly or concealed. The only times they've chosen to carry openly rather than concealed was for reasons of comfort, convenience, or for support of gun rights overall as I mentioned earlier. I'm not trying to say that all open carriers carry for those reasons. Those are just the ones I've met and discussed such issues with. I'm also not discounting or disagreeing with the deterrent factor of open carry. I doubt the open carriers I've met would either. That just wasn't the reason they carried, and although they may have been very much aware of the deterrence value, that wasn't the meaning of self defense they had in mind when they decided to carry a gun.